MSU’s Izzo Highlights Needed Improvements Despite Win

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Despite the 28-point margin of victory over Detroit Mercy on Friday night, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo sees many different places where his team can improve.

Izzo's Spartans are now 5-0 on the season and will almost certainly rise in next Monday's AP Poll from their current No. 17 spot. MSU's next two games will both be in Fort Myers, Fla., against East Carolina and No. 18 North Carolina.

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo yells to his players during a game against the Detroit Mercy Titans at the Breslin Center on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

A full video of Izzo's postgame press conference is below.

Watch Tom Izzo here:

Additionally, a partial transcript of Izzo's press conference can be read below.

Transcript

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo walks along his sideline during a game against the Detroit Mercy Titans on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. MSU won, 84-56. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

IZZO: Disappointed, as you can imagine. I thought [Mark Montgomery] did a better job than I did. I thought his team was tougher.

I thought the change he made playing the two bigs was a really good move. I thought, looking at his team, lately they've been shooting a lot more threes and things, and they did a much better job of that in my humble opinion. I told him that.

Our four upperclassmen, I thought, played pretty well. We were 20-for-31. We were 5-for-11 from the three. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-for-11 from the pre-throw line. We had pretty good rebounding. Jeremy had 11 assists. We only had five turnovers between them.

But our other guys struggled a little bit and both offensively and defensively, and that was disappointing coming off pretty good play out in New York [against Kentucky].

Michigan State Spartans forward Coen Carr, left, contests a shot from Detroit Mercy Titans guard Keshawn Fisher during a game at the Breslin Center on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

But that's where we are right now. We're still not consistent enough for me, but bounced back a little bit better. Outrebounded them by 11, I guess. Turnovers are 12, but they got a couple of turnovers for touchdowns, which I wasn't very happy about.

I just didn't think we played as good as we can play. So, we'll get better.

Q: Hey Tom, I'm curious to know, prior to Big Ten play and this non-conference time gives you all these different storylines. I mean, you get MSG, you get the Arkansas game at home, and of course, Monty. What is that like? And secondly, I just want to add another one. Second half, people talk about getting their cardio up so they can run longer. Do you think you need time for these guys to be able to have a mental bandwidth to last longer? So, I'll pose both of those for you.

IZZO: Yeah, you know, today's not an easy day for me. I don't like playing my former guys. I don't like playing Tum or Monty or BG or Mike Garland or Dwayne Stephens. I don't like playing any of them. Tom Crean over the years, that's not a lot of fun because I know what they're going through as they're trying to build programs.

Tom Izzo, Doug Wojcik — Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo (left) sits on the bench next to assistant coach Doug Wojcik (right) during a game against the Detroit Mercy Titans at the Breslin Center on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. MSU won the game, 84-56. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

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